Breathing becomes difficult for a moment. I scrub at my face, fighting the angry throb in my chest.
What is that? It grows more insistent, jerking me forward a step, then another. Balling my fists, I dig my heels in until they upturn the patchy grass.
The bond. It’s hanging on by a thread, compelling me to complete it. To fix what I’ve broken by severing it with my rejection.
My hand goes to the juncture of my neck and shoulder, tracing the scars. Most shifters don’t scar thanks to our healing abilities. They don’t mature until we do. It’s why we don’t have our first shift until we’re of age. Anything that happens to us growing up can leave its mark if the injury is severe enough.
It was Avery’s idea to sneak out of lessons for the day. I hated to admit it when any elder packmates made the assumption it was the Fates at work drawing me to her, but I liked the funny feeling in my chest when she laughed, so I’d go along with most of her ideas. She had a way of getting everyone to go along with her.
Her giggle lit up something inside me when she peered down from the high branch she climbed. “Aren’t you coming up any higher? You can see for miles up here.”
“I’m three times your size. It takes me longer to climb than you.” I jumped to reach the thick limb above me and hoisted myself up.
“Hurry up,” she teased with another cute chuckle.
“If my dad finds out we skipped lessons, he’ll make an example of me.” I mimicked his tone whenever he was instilling his wisdom to me as his heir. “No one is above the rules. Not even the alpha.”
These games were fine when me and Avery were feisty little pups. We’re getting too old to get away with it. She was sixteen now, and I’d turn eighteen next year. My coming of age ceremony was already planned out. I couldn’t wait to meet my wolf at last.
“He’ll never find out,” she swore.
She was right. The view when I reached the spot she perched was worth the climb. My attention slid from the majestic mountain and the sweeping shape of Crescent Valley to her.
Avery’s focus swung to me and she beamed. “Pretty, isn’t it? Dad said I had to see it from this vantage point to believe it.”
A tingle spread throughout my chest. I licked my lips and nodded.
“Yeah. Beautiful.”
She released another enchanting laugh. I wanted to take the end of her golden brown braid between my fingers. I wanted a lot of things with her that were becoming hard to ignore.
Succumbing to the urge, I played with the end of her braid, curling the soft tendrils around my knuckle. She blushed, peeking at me through her lashes. A strange tingle danced around in my chest, faintly tugging my stuttering heart.
When we made it back to the commons an hour later, something was wrong. A massive crowd was gathered on the lawn, nearly the entire pack. My wolf I had yet to meet was restless behind the veil that separated us, pacing in agitation. I exchanged a confused glance with Avery and pushed through the shouting people to find out what was going on.
When we broke through to the front, I froze. Avery bumped into me, then gasped at the sight of her father clashing with mine.
“Caden!” Liam found us and made his way over.
“What’s happening?” I demanded.
He shook his head. “I don’t know, but Clark challenged Alpha Blackburn.”
“What?” I balked.
Clark Morgan was my father’s beta. His most trusted member of his inner circle. There was no way.
My gut twisted watching Clark’s punch snap Dad’s head to the side. Blood dripped from his swollen mouth. He shifted, teeth sinking into the meat of his challenger’s calf. With a vicious tug, he ripped flesh and tendons free. Clark grunted in pain, but instead of going down, he morphed into his wolf form.
They clashed again and again, man against man, beast against beast, taking pieces of each other without either gaining the upper hand. The lawn was spattered in their blood.
Avery grabbed my hand when my father’s wolf pinned her dad mid-shift, releasing a brutal growl that carried his Alpha power, keeping him down. It worked for a moment, seeming like the challenge would end with my father victorious.
Then Clark broke through, managing to get his paws under Dad’s stomach to kick him off. He took advantage of my father’s momentary distraction to launch himself at him, swiping at his stomach with his claws when he knocked him to his side.
The attack slowed Dad down, giving Clark more opportunity to turn the tables on him. He took too long to get up after Clark charged him.
My heart rose into my throat. I’d already lost my mother when I was a pup. I couldn’t lose my father, too.
No one was to interfere with an official challenge against the alpha. I knew that, even as I bolted into the circle on instinct, realizing the next blow would be the last.
“No! Caden!” Avery shouted, trying to hold me back.
I shook her off, pushing my legs to be faster. I skidded across the slippery grass, coming between them. Clark hesitated, but he didn’t stop. His claws sliced through my shirt at my shoulder, ripping through my skin. My collarbone broke beneath the force and I tumbled back into my father’s wolf.
His bark was full of fury. I scrambled to my feet to face Clark, knowing I was breaking every rule of a challenge. I couldn’t just fucking stand there and watch it play out.
Clark’s wolf knocked me out of the way. I gritted my teeth and pressed a hand to my bleeding shoulder. The claw marks left deep gashes and I didn’t have the full strength of my wolf yet to speed up my healing. I spun around, intent on doing something to stop this.
It was over. By the time I was knocked aside and turned back to the fight, my father found the opening he needed and finished Clark. His wolf stood over Clark’s, muzzle coated in the blood of his torn out throat.
Avery’s scream shook me from my stupor. Why would her dad challenge mine? Anger swirled in my gut and the pain in my shoulder made my heart race.
I stalked to the edge of the circle while my father shifted back, dragging her away from hugging Liam.
“You—you’re in on it. You fucking knew,” I seethed. “You lured me out of here so I wouldn’t be around.”
Her amber eyes shone with her welling tears. “I, Caden, I didn’t! I—my father—”
At her hitched breath, I grabbed her by her upper arms and shook her, ignoring the searing pain in my injured shoulder. “What? Tell me right now.”